The remaining NASCAR TV partners offered the one-hour review programs on Monday dealing with the Bristol races. Three NASCAR series raced on the small oval, but the fireworks were reserved for the Sprint Cup Series on Saturday night.
ESPN2 was up first with the one hour of NASCAR Now. Allen Bestwick is the host and refers to this show as "the roundtable." Joining Bestwick was Boris Said, Johnny Benson and Mike Massaro.
The presentation of this program is classy from the start. The three panelists are in suits and ties and the set is squeaky clean. Bestwick is polished and covers any type of NASCAR topic with the knowledge of a total professional.
Said and Benson addressed the reality of Bristol with Benson having finished fourth in the NCTS race on Wednesday and continuing to lead the point standings. It was the clash at the end of the race that generated the most discussion, with Massaro offering the best question.
He asked if the new two-groove Bristol track meant that the old-style racing where moving another car out of the way was still allowed? His point was well-taken, but the consensus was that Bristol will remain Bristol and rubbing will always be a part of NASCAR.
Bestwick led the panel through a review of the three races and touched on the key points of the events. ESPN uses driver "soundbites" most effectively and again had the interviews that viewers wanted to see.
This included Shannon Spake's post-race interview with an upset Dale Earnhardt Jr. who seems to be a target for ESPN as The Chase closes in. Junior made a big mistake at the start of the race and never got his lap back. He wound-up in the top twenty.
Spake asked "You guys started the season so strong and the last couple of races you seem to have fallen-off a little bit, what do you think has changed?"
Junior answered "I appreciate you pointing that out, makes it a lot easier...there are a lot of guys who finished better than me who you need to probably go and interview right now."
Massaro defended Spake's question as being fair, but Said mentioned that the only mistake Junior made all night was on that first lap. Spake had suggested it was an issue with the set-ups or possibly the tracks. The look from Junior was priceless.
Bestwick hosted Joe Gibbs and Joey Logano who were in good spirits after the big announcement. Few are more professional in these situations than Bestwick and he handled the entire interview with flying colors. Bestwick's best question was about NASCAR approving Logano to race on the superspeedways in 2009.
In the middle of the Sprint Cup segments, coming back from commercial, NASCAR Now ran the normal edited feature using all the sights and sounds from the race weekend. Despite not dealing with it in the program, the NASCAR Now production team decided once again to use the Clint Bowyer audio clip where Bowyer speaks about Michael Waltrip as a driver and questions why NAPA returned to the team.
This move goes against almost everything that Bestwick has tried to bring to ESPN since being promoted from his pit reporter status to lead this Monday show. Bestwick deals with issues head-on, but when it was not discussed in the studio segment it was assumed cooler heads had prevailed and it was over. Apparently, that was not the case.
That leads to SPEED and This Week in NASCAR, which stars Mr. Waltrip on almost a weekly basis. Steve Byrnes hosts this series and chose to deal with the issue in the first ten seconds of the show. Byrnes hosts a relaxed and casual program with the panelists in shirts and slacks. Greg Biffle was alongside Waltrip on this Monday.
After some early teasing, Byrnes walked the panel through a good explanation of Bristol and Biffle's near-misses were the theme. Both made good points about the changed racetrack and the new issues that have arisen from the two-groove racing.
Byrnes took a minute to address the ESPN issue. Waltrip's point was that Bowyer's recorded comment under red did not make the race any better for the viewers. "It was not relevant content," added Biffle. Waltrip took the high road and said he was just a little bit disappointed.
Surprisingly, Byrnes continued the discussion and brought his NASCAR on Fox experience into the topic. He related that during commercial, the scanner audio will be played for the announcers by the Producer and then a decision will be made to use it on-the-air or not. "That's taken out of context, let's not use that," related Byrnes as the answer that is sometimes heard.
Ironically, Waltrip has been a commentator on the Craftsman Truck Series races on SPEED and he related that this is done by the SPEED Producer as well so that Waltrip and Phil Parsons can make a decision on the comment. Waltrip hoped someone at ESPN had taken a moment to maybe decide not to run the clip over-and-over again.
TWIN continued with Nationwide and Truck Series highlights, but then surprised viewers with an outstanding feature. Using footage from the NASCAR Media Group vault, vintage pictures of a youthful Mike Joy led an outstanding look back at the two former NASCAR tracks in California. Riverside and Ontario were venues that eventually gave way due to real estate prices and troubles with attendance.
Waltrip and Biffle provided a good overview of the issues associated with running at California. As usual, that led to Waltrip plugging his sponsors for California and letting Biffle talk briefly about his plans for next season. Byrnes followed-up with the Joey Logano news and both panelists agreed Logano would be fine in the Cup Series with a veteran like Greg Zipadelli leading the way.
Once again, NASCAR fans got to sample two very different TV shows dealing with the same issues on the same day. Both programs are extensions of the race production by SPEED and ESPN, with the casual style and the suit-and-tie crews working right next to each other at the tracks. In a way, both get the NASCAR message across and leave the viewing choices to the fans.
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51 comments:
Wow, espn is really making a concerted effort to tick off drivers;) Shannon is very lucky it wasn't tony she was interviewing, he would have said what junior was obviously thinking...
I was glad Mike had a chance to speak. Hmm...I could swear I heard his comment on the 2 car in the N-wide race footage "That was stupid." Ouch, hehehe...but I can't blame him there. The Spake/DJ exchange was about the funniest thing I've heard in ages (during the race I had ESPN on mute and PRN on sound...I confess.) Shannon didn't have the best questions, but by golly she was gonna get them in come heck or high water. And then Junior was perfect in his response...I'm thinking they would make a good couple, lol. But Mike was right to point out she was doing her job; and she didn't let his response put her off. Good shows in general.
I posted this at the very end of the other Michael Waltrip article before you posted this newer one JD, so if you don't mind I'm going to include this again to follow up on the discussion of whether or not ESPN reviews team audio during commercial breaks like Steve Byrnes said Fox does.....
Just for the record ESPN definitely did discuss the Bowyer comments during the commercial break immediately before airing the soundbite for the world to hear. I DVR'ed the Carl Edwards Hotpass Channel and they happened to stay on the air on his channel instead of running the commercials during that ESPN break because Hermie Sadler was in the middle of an interview.
Here's that exchange (you can only hear the audio that goes out over the air on Hotpass, not the truck talking in their ears as well like you can listening to a scanner at the track):
(the Bowyer soundbite is played for the booth to hear, again before it came on the air for the first time following the break)
DJ: "I don't know wha..."
Andy: "Michael could have given him that much. He could have given him that much."
DJ: "You back out of the gas going down the straightaway wide open you're gonna get run into from behind. You can't just back out of the throttle all of a sudden. He heard his man talking. His spotter told him he was clear, he obviously was not clear."
Andy: "No he wasn't. I agree with you."
Dr. Punch: "I don't know how you can blame Michael for that quite honestly. That's my opinion. When the driver that got hit didn't blame him...."
Andy: "Nah, he didn't."
Dr. Punch: "DJ, I guess you gotta blindly trust that spotter huh? Or do you or don't you?"
DJ: "Yeah..."
Andy: (laughing) "He's not gonna trust him now."
DJ: "When you're going like that, yeah... I always told mine don't tell me unless you absolutely know and...."
Andy: "Man look at that!" (Presumably some kind of replay)
(End of booth chatter on that subject)
Like I posted on the other column. I hoped Mike would take the high road and he did. And Steve brought it up right away so we then could move on with the show.
Another good show this week from TWIN.
Until I read your post it hadn't dawned on me why I turned NN off after I spent two minutes looking at the matching suits and not hearing about what was uppermost on my mind, MW and Bowyer.
Hoist on my own patard! I missed the Shannon Jr exchange so will be forced to stay up late to see it at 2am. I was annoyed at AB for not addressing the radio traffic off the top and the suites just got to me, any particullar reason they chose brown as the color of the day?
I thought Steve Byerns did a great job adddressing the issue and bringing up who gets a vote in what airs.
Your post brings up an elemental question and my answer is always going to be 'Never trust the suites'
PS all I can say is Shannon is lucky she's a girl.
AB and NN most disappointing playing that sound bite again.
Shannon is not the sharpest tool in the shed and indeed, Jr was classy and his expression PRICELESS. It
's interviews like that one that remind me of why I am such a fan of his. He can't help it the media focuses on him and EVEN SAID to interview somebody more deserving.
KUDOS to STeve for getting the Clint sound bite out of the way out of the gate.
I LOVE that show now but will have to catch the midnight rerun due to interruptions. Mikey did take the high road.
WIth all my ESPN gripes and then tonight's show, not sure I will watch them again.
ESPN is just too tacky. Glad to hear Steve B say they do run such things by Fox and they will decide NOT to play audio.
If only the DIRECTOR on FOX used as good of judgement for the races but I digress.
I am SO GLAD SPEED switch the stupid PREVIEW then review deal on TWIN. That is a must see tv show for me.
:)
i liked the way byrnes introduced the entire audio clip topic, setting it in the context of "should fans and media be able to listen in?" i also thought waltrip's response to that was spot on: "yes, but they have to take responsibility for how it effects them." clearly, he put the burden of the emotions of a comment on the fans and media and not on the driver, crew chief or team.
also strong was the point that the audio should be used to add to the race coverage, not to "free-stand," as 'twere. i felt the example of the gordon clip was a good one: it came during race coverage, not during a red flag.
finally, i did not know that FOX and the truck races play back the audio for the commentators to hear and then decide whether to use it or not. that seems to me to be a good standard to use and it seems espn doesn't take advantage of their own talent to guide that decision.
as for spake and dale: i didn't get to watch NN tonight so i can only comment on what i saw from saturday night. i saw spake's approach of dale on a video of his post-race hotpass interview. he had finished with them, sat back down on the step of the hauler, took a drink and was staring down at the ground when she bent into the picture and literally put the microphone down into his face. when he raised his head, there was that flash of "WTH?!?" on his face. i found myself wondering why she couldn't have waited just a few seconds more or at least asked him first before planting that mic in his face.
i didn't see her subsequent "interview" with him but i'll say this: doesn't sound like the kind of question that's gonna get you a respectful response. dale's a pro at holding back and trying to be polite but sometimes, he gets right up to that line between polite and rude. and at those moments, he is his most entertaining to me!
the way i saw spake approach him, the intrusive way she interrupted his moment and the look on his face as she did so put her at a disadvantage with him from the get go. the question may not have been lousy but the way she started the entire interaction certainly felt that way to me.
i'm thinking espn is going to have to move someone else over to speak with him going forward. guess mike davis will have to "have a talk" with someone about his driver's availability! and, as jessica's noted, espn is running thru drivers at a fast clip.
Red
The word "Intrusive" in your post really stuck out. Not only in the way Jr was interviewed, but when you think about it, it seems to be what ESPN lives for...to intrude...or go past that line when many folks know "the driver has had enough"....or needs a few more moments to compose himself. I am not just talking mad, heat of the moment things, but when they are depressed or disappointed in how their evening went.
ESPN just keeps the mic stuck in the faces. We see this repeatedly.
I don't see NN listed on a repeat for late night on the east coast for midnight...but sometimes I ache for what the media expects out of Jr...they have a gift for going at him when he is down.
ESPN certainly has that gift to intrude. For Jr and others. :(
Enjoyed TWIN and thought Mikey handled the entire issue with more class than even I thought he had (I'm a Mikey fan), he said that he liked the idea that I can listen to a drivers/teams scanner and it's up to me how I handle that and I'm good with that. He also said that the media needs to be respectful of the privledge they have in recording scanner audio and and think before they broadcast. I wonder if ESPN asks or tells the booth what they are going to use? I wasn't as impressed with NN between the Shannon interview of JR, another driver displaying class, if it has been me I would have gotten up and gone into the hauler and closed the door in her face. Mike tried to rescue her but I think that was him being kind. Then they aired the Bowyer clip AGAIN and Johnny mumble something about give and take (JB I'm surprised at you) how can he give if you have no idea he's going to do what he did plus he would have gotten run over the car behind him. Boris did a little to much talking for me, has he ever even raced at Bristol, JB's sitting right there and I know he has.
I wanted to watch TWIN before I commented. Good show, btw.
Was what Clint said really during the red flag? ESPN played his comment while showing the replay of him getting hit in the wreck, so I thought that's when he said it. If this is true, how could he have said it in the heat of the moment? Now I know why he didn't say he was sorry. Roommate and I liked him, but not now. We're rooting for Ragan to get in the Chase and not him.
Now I'm even more appalled at ESPN. I'm just sad that DJ is connected with them.
I was impressed with NN. Benson is definitely a class act. I found it curious that no one asked Junior point blank "What were you doing at the start of the race?" Boris made the legitimate point that, with all his experience, he must know the rules. By the way, last night's replay looked like JPM jumped a few cars before crossing the start/finish line too. My opinion is that Junior knew exactly what he was doing and thought he'd get away with it. There was nothing wrong with Spake's questioning. In just a few months, many will be asking Junior if he'll ever win a Cup championship. On TWIN, the controversy with Mikey came at a bad time. Mikey himself said a few weeks ago that NAPA signed on for just one year with a clear message, "perform or else". I like Mikey, but there were always questions about whether he should have been in that DEI seat. Yes, he and Junior terrorized the plate tracks and toyed with the competition. But was that Mikey or their plate motors. Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't those DEI plate motors built by Runt Pittman? Hendrick invested heavily in its plate motor program and then started beating DEI on the Super Speedways. My mind's a little foggy at this early hour, but after listening to TWIN last night, I had the impression that Mikey and Biffle were playing with us a bit. For what it's worth...
I watched both shows last night and for one, thought that Shannon Spake's question to Junior was fair. I am sorry if it caught him off guard, but that is life and let's face it, the most popular driver has not performed like the world and Junior nation thought that he would and taking pot shots at that is fair game. I also thought that TWIN was good and Mikey did take the high road, even though I am not a Mikey fan and still think that he should be paying NAPA for his sponsorship, but loved the way that he called Kyle Bush out on national tv. All in all, it was a great night for NASCAR news shows.
ESPN took the low road, not once but kept on going with it. MW took the high road, NAPA is smart to have signed him for another year. I don't even know who the sponsors are for half the cars, there just isn't that connection like NAPA and Waltrip. For Nascar to stay healthy we need as many teams as possible, so hopefully Waltrip can step it up next year for NAPA. Aarons resigned with MWR also, love that connection. TWIN was great last night, humor, information and conversation.
" thats taken out of context , lets not use that " A great number of things are said in the FOX booth during a race , but with the FOX penchant for low , gotcha broadcasting , i doubt the above phrase has ever been uttered . Quite the opposite i suspect .
The Boyer incident doesn't deserve the coverage its gotten . But the amount of coverage brings up a question . Is ESPN airing the clip to create attention for its broadcasts , or is ESPN simply giving the fans what they have demonstated over the years that they want ? Is ESPN creating controversy for the sake of ratings , or do they realise that the viewers will hang on non- stories like this for days simply because thats the type of reporting they want ? Forget the race , who said something bad about another driver . Don't waste time on the race finish or drivers outside the mainstream interest , give me some " inside " gossip or dirty laundry .
I didn't have an issue with Spake except her questions not being that good. I thought Junior's 'handling' of it was his usual savvy self. He's just good with that sort of thing, he knows it's part of the job and I don't think he lets it bother him nearly as much as it does his fans. I also might add, the "Junior machine" brings this on himself--you start putting your face out in public that much and people are going to focus on you (kind of a 'be careful what you wish for' but I think Junior knows it's bad if they stop asking.) He was right, there *were* people who ought to get interviewed, but Shannon was assigned to him, and she was doing her job however questionably. If they want to be alone, they can go *in* their hauler (and often do.) Junior's the biggest figure in NASCAR and her bosses would have her butt if she doesn't try her best (and yeah, they ought to talk to her about the quality of what/how she asks).
About the scanner thing; believe it or not, I haven't had ESPN on and still have not heard the Clint thing (I missed the first couple seconds of TWIN but heard most of Mike's response.) But I will say, I have heard many things on the scanner that should not be repeated because of the false impression they would give. It doesn't matter if it's immediate or 20 minutes later; guys are mad, whining, tired, hot, grumpy and prone to exaggeration. Even if Clint had been right, I don't think that clip needed to be shown over and over. I think it's just Bristol and it made a good soundbyte for them, simple as that. Poor judgement to attract attention. Sad.
But about ESPN, I wanted to add--I was on a message board for another sport that was discussing ESPN, and they were going on about how it's too much "E" and not enough "S"...same as us, lol.
Newracefan - I agree with you that Boris should have let Johnny talk about racing at Bristol. I couldn't remember if Boris had ever raced there, but I know that he hadn't raced on the new surface. The whole time I was screaming let Johnny talk! It seemed like he started and then Boris stepped on him.
I thought that Mikey handled the comments well.
I'm glad that TWIN spent a little time on Blaney and his 2 crashes in the last 2 weeks where he was in the wrong place at the wrong time (although it was 3 crashes in 3 weeks.) If anyone on the track knew what kind of car Blaney had, it was Biffle since they were locked in a battle for at least 20-30 laps before Biffle "let him go."
if nascar cant deal with in your face journalism, they need to go start their network and use in-house news readers instead of reporters
ESPN is not taking the road of other networks and always kissing the behinds of the teams, and thankfully so. The reporters aren't the drivers buddies, and they shouldn't act like that by giving them soft questions.
Frankly, I would have rather had Miss Spake press the issue more with Kyle after the race on Saturday night. She left him off the hook too easily.
I am still waiting for the correction from SPEED's victory lane. They showed a clip of JD Gibbs talking with Carl Edwards after the race and commented on how it was a sign of good sportsmanship from Gibbs. If they bothered to watch the post race press conference, it would have been readily known that Gibbs was chewing out Edwards.
That is anything but good sportsmanship. SPEED should have made the necessarly edits to correct the record instead of willfully misleading the audience. Though, if they did, they may have made Gibbs angry.
If memory serves me correct, SPEED tapes VL while the post race press conference is going on, there's no way they could have known what was said during taping.
I'm no fan of Mikey - but I thought he was showing a good sense of perspective and humor when he joked that he was the worst driver to ever win two Daytona 500's and an all-star race. He also jabbed that Boyer maybe won a couple short track races and some dirt track races so who is he to talk.
It seems that Clint is a 'good guy' who sometimes runs his mouth without thinking. Remeber his comments about how a monkey could drive the #20 NNS race? Someone should teach him to show a little class once in a while.
VL is a taped broadcast. They could edit it any way they like. If it was shown live, its one thing, but its not.
The Bowyer/Waltrip deal is the latest example of what I call "How Rudy Martzke destroyed sports on TV." This is the only context in which I can side with ESPN airing Bowyer's comment.
If everyone found out that ESPN had the Bowyer nugget and decided to hide it, Martzke, the former USA Today TV sports critic, would have lambasted ESPN for sucking up to NASCAR and protecting the pretty boys. Forget the fact that Martzke hated about every sport that didn't have a stick or a ball. His articles led to many firings/early retirements in the TV industry, and some good people got the boot.
Though Martzke has retired, there are followers in his profession who won't hesitate to help ruin a career with a critical article. So I can see where ESPN felt they were obligated to air Bowyer's comment, even if it was inaccurate and way out of context.
Victory Lane was live on the air before that deal with JD Gibbs even happened. There hadn't been a press conference yet. They saw that footage blind with no knowledge what was said. We knew what was said because VL didn't air until Sunday.
If you look at the footage and didn't know what was said, you would think as they did. It was probably meant to look like an atta boy moment.
bowl,
What in the heck are you talking about? Martzke's articles in USA Today led to people being fired and that is why ESPN waited five minutes and then played-back an inaccurate clip that made two athletes look like idiots?
Matzke was the leader in telling people what was really going-on behind the scenes with sports and brought may things to light that would have been buried by the networks.
I hope you return and explain what your comments have to do with this ESPN issue.
JD
VL is taped. Even though VL is live to tape, SPEED still has the option of going back and editing the content, adding additional content, etc. based upon currently known information.
They refused to do that, maybe in order to stay friendly to Gibbs, rather than reporting the information accurately.
They allow inaccurate and misleading statements to air. This is the same thing that some people are criticizing ESPN about.
Anon 11:01AM,
SPEED did not have that option and the commentary from Roberts was done on the fly. He did not even know that shot was coming up.
I understand your point, but in this case it was just a matter of laying down a one hour live-to-tape program.
JD
Am I the only one who saw the Spake interview with Dale Jr and was struck by his post-race condition? I've noticed, race after race, he's physically whipped, much more than all the other drivers.
"SPEED did not have that option and the commentary from Roberts was done on the fly. He did not even know that shot was coming up".
Exactly. It is meant to be a live post race show. To go back and edit it based on what's happened since the show was taped would be a nightmare. Especially when the race is on Saturday and the show is aired on Sunday night.
Is anyone else irritated by TWIN's playing music so LOUD during the scanner Segment, that it's hard to understand the Drivers and spotters on the radios.
Movies do the same thing, so it must be a Hollywood Thing.
If I wanted to hear music I would turn on the Radio
ESPN lost what little credibility that they had. After the numerous flat out lies by several of their commentators in the past weeks. Now they go after one of the more popular drivers in the sport for nothing but pettiness.
The spot on TWINS of Byrns relating how they handle the scanner audio during the race was a great insight into the world of PROFESSIONAL TV broadcast. Hope someone at ESPN was watching.....
Anonymous August 26, 2008 4:40 AM said...
"I like Mikey, but there were always questions about whether he should have been in that DEI seat. Yes, he and Junior terrorized the plate tracks and toyed with the competition. But was that Mikey or their plate motors. Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't those DEI plate motors built by Runt Pittman? Hendrick invested heavily in its plate motor program and then started beating DEI on the Super Speedways. "
Sure, and that's why a couple months ago Mike had a top 3 finish at Talladega in the bag until the motor blew ...because he had a DEI plate motor! *sarcasm*
Anyone who has followed his career or done some archival research can easily learn that Mike Waltrip has been a great plate racer all his career, one of the reasons Big E hired him. He had several top 5 Daytona and Talldega finishes in some of the worst equipment available, and won the 1996 All Star race (non-plate) when the Wood Bros were already has-beens. And it's easy to cast doubt on whether he should've been hired when the man who hired him isn't around to defend his decision.
In the last 5 years, Michael also finished second at New Hampshire and Phoenix, which last time I looked were 1-mile tracks.
He's maybe got the worst racing luck in all of motorsports aside from Michael Andretti at Indy, but he's certainly not a bad driver.
Casey cleared him specifically on the post-race interview, and for ESPN to air that clip repeatedly without explanation is just TV people doing what comes naturally: exploit anything, no matter how low they have to go.
JD: The only person who I remember losing his job partially because of a Rudy Marzke column was Joe Garagiola.
I believe that after the 1988 World Series on NBC, Marzke wrote that Garagiola was too old to be calling baseball on TV.
dannyboy: Two comments:
The DEI seat that Michael Watrip got prior to the 2001 season was supposed to go to Ron Hornaday who had NAPA as his sponsor in the Craftsman Truck Series. However for whatever reason there were some behind the scene politics and Dale Sr. suddenly switched to Mikey.
As for those two second place finishes in non restrictor plate races, late in the race in Phoenix Waltrip was running second and was catching Jeff Gordon when with nobody near him, Mikey ran into a wall.
And we remember that his second place finish in Loudon in June was the rain shortened race decided on pit strategy and pure luck.
Shannon asked the wrong question.
It should have focused in why he went wide on the first lap rather than ask for a summary of their season thus far. Just poor editorial thinking.
Maybe ESPN could play and play and play and play and play Junior's audio dissing one of ESPN's fair haired beauties? Nope, guess not. NO level playing field there
Bray Kroter
and we're suppose to hold up Howard Cosell as a great example? Yikes. I'm impressed so many remember Rudy. He worked for six years writing columns before USA today--for a paper whose owners started USA Today. If that's being lucky, well...
cvt, yes, every week he looks just about like that...don't know if it's the hotter COTs or what. After June Pocono he looked like he was gonna keel over. And they interview him at the end of nearly every race so that's probably why we've noticed.
Anon 1:29PM,
Happy to have your comment until right at the end. Please come back and re-post.
JD
I watched TWIN and was very glad the Bowyer comment was brought up and moved past early on. Waltrip is a mature, classy guy and his comment was priceless. He said "he is the worst driver in NASCAR that has won TWO Daytona 500's and an All Star race" way to go Mikey! Bowyer should take notes if you ask me!! He's wrecked a lot himself and it wasnt always the other guys fault.
I am happy that TWiN took the high road, it showed maturely. I believe this incident, hurt ESPN and Clint Bowyer more than it hurt Michael Waltrip. Michael has a lot of class, I am glad he didn't stoop to their level. Both Steve and Greg seemed a little perturbed over the incident at the beginning of the show but I think Michael made them feel more comfortable as the show when on. I thought it was a great show.
I know Shannon and Jr dated for a while, but she shouldn't have pushed the subject. I think she took advantage of their friendship by pressing Jr for answers he didn't have.
Hopefully someone from ESPN was watching and took note of the professionalism of SPEED and FOX.
Shannon SPAKE and Jr never dated.
You are thinking of former Miss Winston Shannon WISEMAN, who has done some online broadcasting for nascar.com and the TV show NASCAR Angels.
Back in early May I stopped watching TWIN. I got tired of being upset by the show and what I felt was wrong with it. So I stopped watching.
I tuned in last night for the first time in over 3 months and I was very pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed the show! I tuned in to see how Mr. Waltrip was going to address being called out by Clint Bowyer and they did it before the first commercial ran.
I just want to thank the producers at Speed for creating an enjoyable show. I'm sure this change was made a while ago, and I'm glad they've stuck to it. Kudos to Mr. Byrnes and company!
I am a Dale, Jr. fan and enjoyed his responses, so I guess I have to be OK with Shannon's questions- but she could have asked better questions.
I have no problem with ESPN replaying Bowyer's rant - BUT, I feel that ESPN had an obligation to follow such replay with an explanation of what the real situation was, and also Bowyer's comment after it was pointed out to him what the real situation was.
Playing quotes out of context demonstrates lazy reporting and lack of concern for what remains of ESPN's credibility. In the end I believe ESPN's sloppy work makes ESPN and Bowyer look worse than Waltrip.
Sometimes one gets what one deserves. For example,
"Bristol TV Ratings down: ESPN's live coverage of the Sprint Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway earned a 3.5 household coverage rating, down from a 4.1 for last year's telecast on ESPN. Viewers were 4,996,647, down 13% from 5,735,433 in 2007. Coverage of the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Bristol on ESPN earned a 1.4 household coverage rating, down from a 1.5 for last year's race that aired on ESPN2. Viewers were 1,748,983, down 12% from 1,993,590 in 2007.(ESPN),"
Oops, I'm sorry, I thought I had read that Jr had dated Shannon Spake also.
See Clint, it doesn't hurt to apologize. ;)
JD, who is that in the photo? We can't recognize him.
Anonymous (7:15pm)
I believe the Olympics had something to do with the decline in the Bristol ratings.
vickyd-I'm 80% sure it's Mikey.
The photo is Michael Waltrip.
JD & Pammm I had no idea that that could be Mikey. Thanks!
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